


The one where....

by JustAnotherWriter17



Category: The Voice (US) RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-12
Updated: 2016-03-11
Packaged: 2018-05-06 08:56:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 15,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5410739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAnotherWriter17/pseuds/JustAnotherWriter17
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Moments in the form of one-shots surrounding these two beautiful idiots</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The one where Blake writes a new song

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lizwontcry](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizwontcry/gifts).
  * Inspired by [The Five Stages of Falling In Love](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5349308) by [AnotherDayInHistory](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnotherDayInHistory/pseuds/AnotherDayInHistory). 



> Hello! I'm kind of new to this fandom over here. I write for Woso (Women's soccer) and that has gone pretty well, so I'd like to believe that I don't completely suck at this. I was inspired to start writing them after reading the 5 Stages by AnotherDayInHistory and then lizwontcry encouraged me to go for it and write this 1st one that I had in my head that wouldn't leave me alone. Anyway, my tumblr is soccerzig17 if you have any other ideas for one-shot ideas. You can drop them by my ask box there or leave me comment here! Enjoy!

The first time that Blake met Gwen’s boys as their mom’s boyfriend, he knew that Zuma would be the one he had to work to win over. He had met the two older boys on season 7. Gwen had to bring them with her to a few of the tapings and they seemed to really like the cowboy. Flash forward to last month when they all sat down at Gwen’s house and talked about how they would be seeing a lot more of Blake and how he was going to be spending a lot of time with them and how mommy was going to go on dates with him sometimes. They tried their best to explain it to two boys under the age of 10, Apollo was still too young to really understand what was happening, but Blake could tell that Zuma was a little skeptical; he was definitely Gwen’s more serious and observant boy.

 

Kingston on the other hand was pretty excited about it. He loved that Blake would throw around a football with him, help him with homework, and was someone he could go out and be messy with. Gavin never really like to go outside and get messy or dirty. Kingston was sold on Blake right from the start.

 

It was different with Zuma, he wasn’t as gung-ho as Kingston was. So many times Blake had felt slightly awkward around the middle child because he didn’t want to do or say anything that would make Zuma like him less.

 

Over the course of a couple of weeks Zuma had started warming up to the country singer a bit better, and once Blake started playing guitar around him more, they found something to bond over. Often times they would find themselves in the music room of the house together. At first there wasn’t really much conversation other than simple topics about music. Sometimes Zuma would ask Blake if a chord progression he thought of sounded good, and the country singer could see that Zuma appreciated when he actually told the truth.

 

The first couple of times Zuma had asked Blake had just said yes because he didn’t want the young kid to be upset, later though he suggested a different chord instead of one of the ones Zuma used, and once he replaced it, the little boy’s face lit up, so Blake made a note to himself to always be there to help out Zuma if he needed it.

 

Slowly but surely Zuma started to actively seek him out, and want to hang out with him. Blake, Gwen noticed, was so in tune with each of her kids and that was one of the things that she loved about him. He could be rough and tumble with Kingston, and then later take a nap cuddled up with Apollo, or just chill out in the music room with Zuma for a couple hours at a time.

 

“Ya know,” Blake said when they were cuddled up that night, “I think Zuma’s finally startin’ to like me.”

 

“He doesn’t not like you babe, he just takes a little while to warm up to new people. He’s also really perceptive for his age, so he might be worried about me still. After the divorce he got very clingy with me, he could tell how bad it hurt even though I always tried to put on a brave face for the boys.”

 

“Hmm”

 

“Hmm what?”

 

Blake looked over with a cheeky grin, “I’m just gonna have to show him he’s got nothin’ to worry about then.”

 

“You’re so up to something aren’t you?”

 

The country singer just smiled wider, “Sure am darlin’.”

 

Gwen just raised an eyebrow at him, and after a minute she was going to ask what exactly his plan was, but he interrupted her by leaning over and kissing her goodnight. Blake, like she was expecting, tried to move things a bit further, but he had just recently started sleeping over when Gwen had the boys still, so she was always very clear that, for now, no funny business would be happening.

 

“Sleep Blake.”

 

“Aw you’re no fun.”

 

Gwen just rolled her eyes and cuddled into him, “Goodnight lover boy.”

 

Blake placed a tender kiss to her hair, “Goodnight beautiful. I love you”

 

“Love you too.” Gwen replied sleepily with a smile on her face.

  
  


The next morning Gwen woke up to an empty bed, but the sound of Blake and Kingston laughing from the direction of the kitchen. Immediately she knew that the laughter could not be a good sign. Blake wasn’t the best in the kitchen, he was really good at making a few things, he called them his ‘specialties’ but breakfast was not one of them.

 

When she rounded the corner she couldn’t help but laugh as well. Kingston was sitting on the counter laughing hysterically and Blake had flour all over his face.

 

As soon as the boys heard Gwen, the laughter stopped and Kingston sat up straight, “Blake did it!”

 

“Dude! I thought you were on my side!”

 

That just caused Kingston to giggle again.

 

Gwen just rolled her eyes and assessed the damage. Luckily it appeared that most of the flour was on Blake, so they wouldn’t have to clean too much. “What exactly happened boys?”

 

“Well, we were tryin’ to make pancakes for y’all, but this one here,” Blake said pointing over to the still giggling boy, “didn’t tell me that you had a super strong mixer that would make everythin’ explode.”

 

Gwen gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, “Go get cleaned up, I’ll handle breakfast.”

 

On his way out of the kitchen, he took a little bit of flour from his shoulder and flicked it towards Kingston who, once again, fell into a fit of giggles.

 

“What time did you and Blake get up?” she asked as she started to clean up a bit.

 

“Not too long ago. We wanted to have breakfast ready for you, Blake thought it would be nice to surprise you, but he doesn’t really know how to cook.”

 

Gwen laughed at the honesty of her son. “You’re right, he isn’t the best.”

 

“But he is trying!” Kingston cut in.

 

“He is, and practice makes perfect. Maybe we’ll just have to help him a little bit more next time huh?”

 

Kingston nodded and then spoke up again. “Can I tell you a secret?”

 

“Of course.” Gwen answered, a little confused as to what direction this was going to go.

 

“Blake is way more fun than Dad. He makes us all laugh a lot more.”

 

Gwen wasn't quite sure what to do with that knowledge, so she was quiet for a moment. The silence prompted Kingston to speak up again, “Like I love Dad still, but some of my friends parents are divorced and the have really cool step-parents too that they have a lot of fun with like how Blake has fun with us so I mean it would be cool if he was around more. He really makes me laugh and smile more. He makes you smile more too.”

 

Just then, Blake walked in so Kingston quickly got quiet, so his secret wouldn’t be overheard by the person it was about. This time Blake walked into the kitchen with a sleepy Zuma on his back, and Apollo’s monitor in his hand. Gwen had a soft smile take over her face as she saw how much of a natural Blake was. It hadn’t even been a year yet and he was already such a natural father figure.

 

“Apollo was still snoozin’ when we checked on him, and I noticed you left this in the room, so I brought it down.”

 

Gwen walked over and gave Zuma a kiss on the head and then gave Blake a kiss on the cheek. “While you were cleaning up, King and I were talking about how you need some help in the kitchen, so I think we should all make pancakes together today. Sound good boys?”

 

Kingston happily cheered and the word pancake woke Zuma up a bit more.

 

They were about halfway through the pancake making process when Gwen heard some whining come from the monitor, however her hands were covered in the almost done batter.

 

“I’ll go check on him, you wouldn’t want to leave me unsupervised in here with these guys anyway probably.”

 

By the time Blake got back, Apollo snuggled into his shoulder, the other two boys were already eating their first batch of pancakes.

 

Blake couldn’t help but to think about how domestic everything was. In the span of about a year, he was divorced and in a very low place in life, to sitting around a table with his new girlfriend and her three boys enjoying breakfast like he was actually going to be permanently in their lives for a long time, which he definitely planned on. They had a talk a little before Gwen started letting Blake into her boys life more about how if he started spending time with them, and things didn’t end well for them, it would not only be her heart broken, but 3 little boys too. Blake was quick to assure her that he wouldn’t let that happen; he was in it for the long haul.

 

After everyone was cleaned up after breakfast Kingston got ready to go to a friend's birthday party and Apollo was getting a little fussy, so Gwen thought taking him to the park might help. Blake was about to ask Zuma if he wanted to go with them when he spoke up, “Blake? Can we stay here and you can help me with my song?”

 

“Absolutely buddy.”

 

Gwen smiled. At first Blake was really nervous when he would hang out with any of the boys alone, he wanted them to like him, but as he got more comfortable with them, he started looking forward more and more to the bonding moments he would have to himself with the boys.

 

Once Kingston had been picked up to go to his friend’s birthday and Gwen and Apollo left for the park, Blake and Zuma made their way towards the back of the house where the music room was.

 

After about an hour or so of Blake helping Zuma out with the song he was writing they took a little snack break.

 

Blake had a plan to try and assure Zuma that he wasn’t going to break is his mom’s heart like his father did, so when they got back to the music room Blake rubbed his hand on the back of his neck, a nervous tic he had, and spoke quietly to Zuma, “Hey bud, do you think you could maybe help me out with a new song I’m writing?”

 

Zuma’s eyes went wide, “You want _me_ to help _you_?”

 

“Of course I do!” Blake said enthusiastically once he saw how much it meant to Zuma that he asked for his help. “Part of bein’ a good musician is to get opinions from other good musicians to see if their song is good. Think you can help me?”

 

Zuma nodded, “I’ll do my best.”

 

“Okay buddy.”

 

Blake then went into a new song he had just finished up. The song was a little more laid back than a typical country song, more of a strong acoustic sound for now, that he hoped he could rock up a bit once he got into the studio with it. He already had most of the lyrics written for this particular song months ago, but he was missing a bridge and over the course of the last few weeks he was able to put something together. The premise of the song was about how people come into your life when they are supposed to, and how love always trumps over pain and hurt you could feel.

 

Zuma was perceptive enough to understand the meaning and it meant a lot to him that Blake was sharing it with him first. “Did you write that about Momma?”

 

Blake nodded, “It’s also about you boys too though. You three make me really happy too.” Blake didn’t know if this was exactly a conversation he should have with the young boy, but he figured it couldn’t hurt. “You see, when I started dating your momma, I was really nervous that you and your brothers wouldn’t like me. I knew that if you guys didn’t like me, then you’re momma probably wouldn’t either, and I like her a whole lot, so I was kind of scared at first.”

 

“You were?” Zuma asked, not being able to believe that someone as cool as Blake would be scared of anything, let alone him and his brothers.

 

“Yea.”

 

Zuma, ever full of surprises with his particular personality, got up and ran over to Blake throwing his arms around the country singers broad shoulders and tucking his head into Blake’s neck.

 

Blake was momentarily caught off guard, Zuma was always more of a high-five, or a quick hug dude, so the country singer was taken aback for a second. It only lasted a second though before he wrapped his arms around Zuma’s much smaller frame and held him close.

 

“I love you Blake.”

 

Tears were immediately threatening to fall once those words left the little boys mouth. He was so innocent so Blake knew that he wasn’t just saying them to say them. When little kids do that stuff out of the blue, he knows that they mean it. He cleared his throat and hugged the boy tighter, “I love you too.”

 

Just as they pulled away from their embrace with matching smiles, Gwen rapped on the door to get their attention.

 

“Zuma, do you want to go pick out a movie for all of us to watch?”

 

He happily nodded and jogged off shouting something about Inside Out or Home.

 

“Sooo,” Blake said with a grin when he noticed the sparkle in Gwen’s eyes, “How long were you standing out there?”

 

Gwen sheepishly smiled at being caught eavesdropping, “I walked up when you were explaining what the song meant.”

 

Blake held out his hand and gently pulled Gwen onto his lap on the couch he was sitting on. “He said he loves me,” the country singer said with the biggest smile on his face.

 

“What makes me even happier is that you said it back to him.”

 

“Are you kidding? Of course I did. I love you, and while I realized that very quickly, I also realized how much I love your boys too. I thought at first the loving them would just be an extension of lovin’ you, and in a way it kinda is, but I love them as individual kids too, not just because they’re yours and I love you.”

 

Gwen leaned over and kissed him passionately. “You’re perfect.”

  
“Only cuz you make me perfect. Now come on, we’ve got a little boy downstairs that is waitin’ for one of us to make popcorn for the movie.”  


	2. The one where Kingston and Blake play catch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not totally happy with how this one flows, I had an idea, then I got hit with BlakeDad feels and this happened instead.

“Hey Blake?” Kingston asked.

 

“What's up little man?”

 

“Are you going to be our step-dad?”

 

Blake dropped the football that Kingston just threw at him. “Umm….” the cowboy stuttered. He had no idea how to answer that. It was only a little over a year of them being officially together, and while he knew that he wanted to ask Gwen to marry him someday, he wasn’t planning on doing it terribly soon. “Why..um what makes you ask that?”

 

Kingston just shrugged, “I dunno. You and mom love each other, and you love me and my brothers too, so seems like you’d be our step-dad. I have a couple of friends that have a step-mom or a step-dad and you do all the things that they do.”

 

Blake took a seat on the ground, against the stage wall, and patted the space next to him. It was season 11 now and Gwen was back on the show, and since they had started getting serious and spending more time with the boys, Kingston always wanted to come down to set and hang out. Zuma came a lot too, because he was totally content to sit around on the couches by the trailers and play his guitar, or just watch. Apollo would come for a little while every now and then, but because he was at the age where he needed someone to watch him, or entertain him, he would only come for a little bit at a time. Kingston and Zuma understood how the show worked, and that their Mom and Blake didn’t always have a lot of time to hang out with them while they were shooting, especially since it was still in the early stages of the show, but around lunch time every day they got some time to hang out for an extended period of time.

 

“Come here bud.”

 

Kingston walked over and dutifully sat down next to the cowboy.

 

“You know I love your mom and you and your brothers right?”

 

Kingston nodded and laughed a little bit, “Yea you tell us all the time.”

 

Blake laughed along with him and pulled him over to ruffle up his hair. “Ain’t nothin’ wrong with tellin’ people that you love ‘em.” Blake took a breath and then got a little more serious. “Asking if I’m going to be your step-dad is kind of a big deal bud.”

 

“Oh,” Kingston said, apparently not quite realizing that it was a big deal, “I mean you do dad stuff with us, and you love us, and we love you, so it just kind of makes sense right? I mean I think it’s weird to call you my mom’s boyfriend to my friends, cuz you guys are like old, so I just say you’re my step-dad.”

 

“You...you do?” Blake was speechless, he had only hoped that one day the boys would think of him as maybe a father figure, and Kingston just assured the role that the cowboy had in his life with ease. He decided, for now, to look over the fact that Kingston had just called him old.

 

“Yea, all my friends think that is so cool that you and mom get to work on the same show, and that we get to come to some of your concerts and stuff. You do ‘dad’ things with us like now when we play catch, and when you help us with homework and stuff. Those are things my dad does with me too. So like you're like my dad but not, so you’re our step-dad.”

 

Blake was trying to think of an appropriate response, he was overwhelmed with the emotions he was feeling, but he didn’t have to think long, because Kingston interrupted his thoughts.

 

“And I was thinkin’ about maybe, um, if it was okay, ifmaybeyou’dbeokaywithmecallingyoudad.”

 

Blake’s head whipped around to the 10 year old and he put his hand on the young boy’s shoulder. “If you want to call me dad, I would be honored. I love you King. I just want you to understand though, that I’m not tryin’ to replace your dad. You have a special bond with him, that will never, ever, change. He loves you so much. And I don’t want you to be doin’ this just because of your brothers either.”

 

Apollo had started calling him ‘Papa’ only after about six months of dating of dating Gwen, and it took everyone by surprise a bit. He had done it when they were all in the living room watching a movie. The youngest boy had started whining when he wasn’t sitting next to Papa. Zuma had followed up only a little over a month later when he sleepily said good night and called him daddy. Blake just wrote it off as a slip up, he was half asleep, but when Zuma said it again the next night, and the rest of the nights for the week before he said it during the daylight, he thought that maybe it was the middle child’s way of easing into calling him dad. Blake just wanted to make sure that Kingston wasn’t just doing this because he felt like he had to since his brothers were.

 

“I know that. That’s why I waited until now to talk to you about it. Calling you Blake just didn’t seem like enough really, you were just Blake when we met you the first time when my mom and dad were still married, but calling you step-dad, like to you, seems weird.”

 

Blake smiled, Zuma was overall more introspective and more in tune with this stuff, but every now and then Kingston’s punk rock attitude that he got from his mom would fade away and his softer side would come out.

 

“Sounds like you thought about this quite a bit.”

 

Kingston nodded. “Yup. I know that it’s like a big deal and stuff, but I don’t know, just seems like the thing to do.”

 

“I love you King.”

 

“Love you too Dad.”

 

Gwen popped her head out of the stage door. “Hey boys, we gotta get back to work. King, are you going to sit in the audience or do you want to hang out with Zuma by the trailers?”

 

“Um, I’ll watch for a little bit I think. The Battles are always my favorite.”

 

“Alright little man, you know where your spot is. Give me a minute out here?”

 

Kingston nodded, he was used to his mom dismissing him sometimes like that so she could talk to Blake, he also knew that they kissed sometimes, so he was fine with being anywhere but there.

 

“Okay, see ya in there.” he said as he started to run off.

 

“Nope, get back here.” Gwen said with a smile as she crouched down.

 

Kingston rolled his eyes but went back to give his mom a kiss on the cheek.

 

“Bye Mom, bye Dad!”

 

Blake smiled as Gwen whipped her head around to the cowboy. “Dad huh?”

 

Blake just nodded with a big dopey smile on his face.

 

“Come on cowboy. You can tell me all about it on our next break.”

 

“All three of your boys now have their own Dad name for me.” Blake said kind of wistfully, almost like he couldn’t actually believe that this was happening, as they were walking back on set hand-in-hand. “I mean I’m sure Zuma will out grow ‘daddy’ eventually, but for right now it’s kinda cool that they all have different names for me.”

 

“You know,” Gwen said, “Now that they are all calling you Dad, I think it’s fair that you can call them your boys too, they aren’t just mine anymore.If they are thinking of you as their dad, you should think of them as your kids too.”

 

Blake looked at Gwen like she had just hung the moon. “Really?”

 

“Yea, really. Although unfortunately we are going to have to give Gavin a heads up because if you just start calling them your boys, or our boys, in interviews and stuff and he doesn’t know then things might get a little ugly. Same with all the boys calling you dad. He isn’t going to be happy about it I don’t think.”

 

Blake leaned over and gave her a quick kiss before they got back to the stage, “Don’t care what he thinks. As long as he doesn’t invalidate your...I mean our boys, feelings about callin’ me dad, I don’t care what he thinks, or says for that matter.”

 

“Wow Blake,” they heard Adam say as he popped up next to them, “Invalidate seems like a big ol’ fancy word for you to use. I’m proud you used it correctly.”

 

Blake and Gwen just laughed and Blake gave him a light shove, “Shut up man, we’re havin’ a moment here.”

 

“Yea I overheard. Congrats Pops!”

 

“Thanks buddy.”

 

For as much shit as they give each other, this show has made them so close, so when they turn off the bromance and teasing, it is just that much more meaningful. Blake could tell that Adam really meant it. He was thankful for a friend like Adam. The Maroon 5 singer could throw shit at him as much as he wanted, but it was their serious moments that really held the most meaning in their friendship.

 

“You two have like 5 minutes before you need to be back in your chairs.”

 

Gwen nodded as Blake wrapped his arms around her waist, “Thanks Adam, we’ll be out in a couple minutes.”

  
  


Late that night, after the show, and after dinner Gwen made a difficult phone call to Gavin while Blake got the boys ready for bed. They were all planning on watching a movie first, but they knew that the boys would be tired and fall asleep before it was over, so they had to get all ready for bed first.

 

The boys were brushing their teeth when Gwen got off the phone and sank down onto the couch with a heavy sigh.

 

Blake loaded the movie and took a seat next to her, pulling her over to lean against him. “Went well huh?” he asked sarcastically.

 

“He isn’t happy about it, at all, but once I explained how each of the kids call you dad in their own way, how they started doing it on their own, I think he at least sort of understood. I told him that he doesn’t have to like it, but they boys did this, and came to you on their own so that if he says or does anything to undermine or influence their feelings about you we would have major problems that he certainly wouldn’t want to deal with.”

 

“Good.” Blake said with a smile as he leaned in to give Gwen a kiss.

 

“Ugh, you guys kiss too much.” Kingston said as he walked into the room.

 

They both just laughed before Blake pulled the oldest boy down on his lap and started giving him kisses all over his face as he giggled and tried to get out of the country singer’s grasp. “See you like kisses too!”

 

Zuma came in with Apollo and the youngest boy toddler-ran over to Blake, wanting to join in on the fun, while Zuma snuggled into his mom’s side.

 

Gwen pulled out her phone and snapped a picture. Her and Zuma were looking at the camera, but Blake, Apollo, and Kingston were all kind of blurry from still moving around. She posted it to twitter with the simple caption; **Family nights**. and then had Blake start the movie so they boys would settle down a bit.

 

Apollo and Zuma were both asleep when there was only about a half hour of the movie left, so Gwen went up to put them to bed while Kingston and Blake finished the movie up. It was much later than she normally let the boys stay up, but they didn’t have anything to do tomorrow, and Blake and Gwen had been tied up shooting the Battle rounds the last few days so they figured tomorrow could be a lazy day.

 

“Come on King,” Blake whispered as he shut off the TV and got ready to take Kingston to bed. “Movie’s over bud, time for bed.”

 

Kingston just held out his arms.

 

Blake smiled at the gesture before picking him up and carrying him to his room. Once the oldest boy was in bed, Blake leaned down to place a kiss on the top of his head. “Night King, love you.”

 

“Love you too Dad.” he whispered as he drifted off.

 

Later when Blake was scrolling through twitter he saw Gwen’s picture and retweeted it with his own caption. **Love my boys and my girl.**

  
Gwen saw the caption the next morning when she woke up, after she detangled herself from the country singer, and immediately liked the tweet.


	3. The one were Blake talks about Cowboy boots

They had just finished up with the playoff rounds, so it was now down to the top twelve. After shooting, and then talking to the artists that inevitably didn’t make it through, Gwen went back to her trailer to change out of her clothes from the show. It was a fairly emotional night, but she was also normally a little over-emotional on the show anyway. Performances, eliminations, some of the before packages, you name it and Gwen probably has cried at it. For some reason though tonight, saying goodbye to so many from her team really hit her harder than she thought it would. Obviously she knew she would be emotional about it, but she wasn’t quite prepared for just how emotional it would be. 

 

Blake had caught her for a quick second right after they called cut just to make sure she was okay, and then had waited for her near the trailers for her to get done talking with her team. Once she had made her way over to where he was standing he wrapped her up in another comforting hug. “I’m gonna go get changed and then I’ll come by your trailer,” he pressed a kiss to her temple, “We can figure out what we want to do with our night then. You gonna be okay darlin?”

 

Gwen let out a content sigh and nodded against Blake’s chest. “Yea, just need a minute here.”

 

He smiled and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Take all the time you need. I ain’t goin’ anywhere.”

 

Things were still really new with them, it had only been about 2 and a half months, but everything just felt right when she was in the country singers arms. 

 

After another minute Gwen reluctantly pulled away. “Go get changed, I’ll do the same. I kind of just feel like having an at home night, so we can talk about it in a little bit.”

 

“Sounds good to me,” Blake said with a kiss to the blonde’s cheek before he walked off towards his trailer. The way he saw it, the faster he got ready to go, the faster he could be back with Gwen. 

 

When Gwen was changed and taking off her stage makeup, Blake walked in.

 

“Geez! You could knock you know, you scared me! What if I had been changing?”

 

Blake smiled before replying, “Oh I wouldn’t have minded,” cheekily.

 

Gwen just laughed and rolled her eyes before going back to taking off her makeup. She had stolen a few glances over at Blake, and noticed that he was bouncing his leg slightly, something that was a thing he did when he had something to say, but couldn’t or didn’t know if he should. After a few minutes she finally spoke up and broke him out of the daze he was apparently in. 

 

“Say it.”

 

“Huh?” he asked confused. 

 

“You’re bouncing your leg, something you do when you have something to say. So, whatever it is you are thinking about saying, just say it.”

 

“Sometimes I think it’s kinda scary how easily you can read me.” 

 

“Now you’re deflecting, so it’s gotta be something kind of serious. What’s up Blake?”

 

“Well, uh,” Blake started nervously, “when I was gettin’ changed I saw I had a couple pairs of boots in my trailer and I was just thinkin’ about how last year when you brought the boys to set and they hung out in my trailer while you did some blocking stuff or somethin’ and Kingston and Zuma both were tryin’ on my boots and they looked pretty funny in mine, but I was thinkin’ maybe, if it was alright with you, if I could get em a pair of their own for Christmas.”

 

“So you’re asking if it’s okay that you give them Christmas presents?” Gwen replied evenly, messing with Blake and his nervousness just a little bit.

 

“Yea. I didn’t know if it’d be okay or not. I know I ain’t been around em a whole lot, with us bein’ so new and all, but if you’re okay with it, it’s somethin’ I’d like to do.”

 

Gwen just nodded while pretending to think it over. In reality Blake had nothing to worry about, of course if he wanted to get her kids presents she was okay with it. It was a sweet gesture and it really did show her that, because he was so nervous, it was important to him. She just enjoyed messing with him from time to time. 

 

Finally, after what seemed like forever to Blake, she spoke up, “You know if you get King and Zuma boots, Apollo will want a pair too,” she said with a cheeky smile to let him know she was messing with him earlier by staying kind of quiet.

 

Blake got up off the couch he was sitting on and walked over to the counter area where Gwen was putting her hair up. “You were messin’ with me? Here I am bein’ all nervous and you decided to mess with me.”

 

“I couldn’t help it,” she said, “You get so cute when you’re nervous.”

 

“Gwen Stefani thinks I’m cute!? I’ve gotta go tell Adam, he’ll be so jealous!” Blake said in a high pitched voice, trying to mimic what a teenage girl might sound like. 

 

Gwen just laughed, music to Blake’s ears, before replying, “You’re such a dork.”

 

Blake just leaned over to kiss the blonde on the cheek, “I’m your dork darlin’. So….I can get them boots for Christmas?”

 

“Yea, you can get them boots for Christmas. I’m sure that they’ll love them, they’ve all taken to you quite a bit even though you haven’t been around them all that much. They really do think you’re great. Kingston actually has started saying ‘y’all’ too. It doesn’t sound quite right, but it’s pretty cute.” 

 

Blake smiled, right from the start it had been important to him that Gwen’s boys liked him too, so to hear that definitely made him feel good. “Will you take pictures for me when they open them?”

 

They had decided that it was too soon to work out how to spend the holiday’s together, Gwen would go to Oklahoma with Blake after the show wrapped for a little while, and then head back to California to spend Christmas with her family while Blake stayed in Oklahoma for Christmas with his family. They hadn’t quite decided what they would do after, if Gwen would come back, if Blake would go to California, or if the two of them would go somewhere else entirely. Blake still wanted a picture of the boys opening their boots though.

 

“Of course, and I’m sure they’ll thank you when they inevitably beg to FaceTime you later too.”

 

“I’ll be lookin’ forward to it.”

  
  
  


Blake smiled when he got a notification on Christmas morning from Gwen’s twitter.  **Clearly the boys have a favorite gift** was the caption above the short video she posted. The 20 second video showed Kingston and Zuma tearing into the wrapping paper after they could see what their present was and Apollo already had his opened, but he decided to wear them on his hands and clap as his brother put theirs on with their Christmas pajamas. 

 

After Blake showed everyone they video, at least twice, he replied to her tweet,  **Looks like I better get thinkin’ on how I’m going to top that for next year**

 

Gwen’s heart melted at that, he was already thinking about next year, if she didn’t think he was in it for the long-run, she sure did after that. She took out her phone once more as the boys were eating breakfast to send a text to him,  _ They loved the boots so much. They have also already asked me 6 times when they can FaceTime you. Got some free time in a couple of hours? _

 

Blake mentally went through the plans for the day,  _ Yea, I’ve got a good chunk of free time now to talk to my favorite boys if y’all aren’t busy now.  _

 

_ Good. I’ll call in after they finish eating breakfast xx _

 

_ I’ll be waitin _

 

“You’ve got it bad.” Blake’s mom interrupted.

 

“Yea, I do.”

 

“You’re happy?” she asked with a tone that only a mother can have.

 

“The happiest I’ve been in a long time.”

 

“Good, she is good for you, so are those boys it looks like.”

 

Blake nodded, “They are the best.”

 

After a few more questions from his mom, Blake’s phone started ringing signalling the FaceTime call. “That’ll be them.”

  
Blake stood up and walked up to his room with a smile on his face as he answered the call to 3 boys happy babbling away at the same time trying to thank him for their boots, telling him about the other presents they had gotten, and the Apollo's just general noise making of trying to speak certain words, but not quite having the hang of it yet. It was a bit chaotic, but he wouldn’t change a thing.


	4. The one where Gavin drops the boys off

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kinda short, but this little idea would't leave me alone.

As odd as it may seem, it’s Apollo that makes Blake realize that he is in it for the long-run with Gwen, that he wants forever with her. Sure the future was always on his mind, and he knew that she was in it, or that he wanted her in it, but after two divorces, he couldn’t help but go back to that dark place and think maybe the problem was him. It had been about six months, which in reality was a very short time, but for some reason it already felt like they had been together much longer than that. Apollo is the one that makes him realize how bad he wants, and honestly needs, all four of them in his life. 

 

It starts off as just another ordinary ‘other’ weekend. Gwen and Gavin agreed on every other weekend with the boys, and they were due home from school on Friday soon to spend the weekend with their Mom and Blake. Gavin was the one bringing them, and that was always tense. Kingston and Zuma definitely picked up on it, and did their best to just go with the flow of things. Apollo, on the other hand, hadn’t really developed that perceptiveness yet, he was still a toddler, so sometimes things got really interesting with him saying, or trying to say, or doing something.

 

This was definitely one of those times.

 

When Gavin pulled up with the boys, Blake and Gwen went out to help them with their school stuff and their weekend bags. The two older boys didn’t really need help, they put their backpacks on and each had a duffle bag that they would carry into the house. It was mainly Apollo that needed the assistance, and because he was a toddler, he had quite a few bags because at any given time you never know what he would need. 

 

Blake was standing a bit closer to the house, making sure Kingston and Zuma had all their stuff before they ran inside to do whatever (Blake knew that they liked being at Gwen’s place more than Gavin’s). He and Gavin didn’t ever really talk, probably for the best, so he always hung back a bit on weekends like this. Kingston had just run inside shouting to Blake as he ran in “I’ll tell you about school in a minute I really gotta pee!” which just caused the country singer to laugh out loud for a moment before asking Zuma if he finished the song he was working on when he saw him last. Zuma was in the middle of telling him how he finished it when Apollo started crying. 

 

Blake looked up briefly to make sure everything was fine, and he saw Gavin helping Apollo out of his car seat with Gwen nearby, so he figured the youngest was just being a bit fussy, it happens. Zuma finished up quickly after that and went inside saying he was going to go get ready to play it for Blake, that he would be in the music room. 

 

After Zuma ran off, Blake took just a couple steps closer to Gavin’s car since Apollo was still crying. Once he was closer he could hear that Apollo wasn't just crying, he was crying out for ‘Papa’ too. Blake's heart sank a bit at that, clearly the little boy didn't want to leave his father, so Blake took a last look at Apollo before turning to go back into the house to hear Zuma’s song. 

 

He was stopped short however when he heard, “NO!” come very loudly from Apollo, that boy sure did have a set of lungs he thought. 

 

Against his better judgement (because it would cause him to be much closer in proxemics to Gavin) he turned around and went over to see what the commotion was all about. It wasn’t often that Apollo would throw a tantrum, so Blake just wanted to see if he could help. 

 

Gavin had just gotten him out of his car seat and was asking what was wrong, because he was still crying out for ‘Papa.’ 

 

Once Blake was closer, Apollo started thrashing around in Gavin’s arms, stilling yelling ‘Papa’,  almost hard enough to be dropped, but Gavin clearly understood the message so he let him down carefully but quickly, and also very confused. He wasn’t alone in being confused, Blake was thinking about why if Apollo was calling for ‘Papa’ did he want to be put down so bad. 

 

Gwen was the only one it clicked for after a moment; Apollo had always called Gavin ‘Da-da’ not ‘Papa.’ 

 

She watched with a huge smile on her face as Apollo waddle-ran, like toddlers do, over to Blake.

 

For his part, even though he was still a little bit confused, Blake knelt down as Apollo got closer so that he could give his little buddy a hug. 

 

Apollo was almost within reach when a smile took over his face and he squealed “PAPA!” as he threw his little arms around Blake’s neck. 

 

For a couple seconds, even though it felt like longer, Blake froze. Apollo was calling him Papa, not Gavin. When he was crying earlier, Apollo wanted him. A massive smile took over his face as he lifted the little boy up and tossed him in the air a bit making him giggle loudly and scream in delight. 

 

Blake couldn’t help but be just a tiny bit smug about it. Gavin was watching with a pissed off look on his face, but Gwen looked incredibly happy, and that was all he cared about. Blake put Apollo up on his shoulders, something that the little boy absolutely loved, probably because he was so high up, and walked over to Gwen. 

 

He gave her a kiss on the cheek before taking two of Apollo’s little bags from her, “I’m gonna take lil’ dude inside so we can go listen to Zuma’s new song. Sound good buddy?” Blake asked as he pulled on Apollo’s feet gently.

 

“Papa, papa, papa.” 

 

Blake just beamed at Gwen before walking inside, making sure to pause at the doorway so that Apollo could touch the top of the doorframe. 

 

Blake did feel a little bit bad about leaving Gwen out there to handle Gavin being pissed at the fact that his son was now calling Blake ‘Papa,’ but he knew that his girl could handle her own. 

  
  


Later on that night they were all in the family room, in their comfy clothes, getting ready to watch a movie when Apollo climbed over Gwen.

 

“Papa!” Apollo said as he snuggled up against Blake. 

 

Kingston and Zuma looked back at them from their spots on the floor.

 

Zuma looked like he was seriously thinking about what that meant, for Apollo to call Blake ‘Papa,’ while Kingston just blurted out what we was thinking, “Did ‘Pollo just call Blake Papa?”

 

Gwen and Blake both nodded before Gwen spoke up. “I guess he just started doing it. Neither of us have referred to Blake as that, and he calls your dad ‘Da-da’ so we were pretty shocked when he did it earlier.”

 

The boys just nodded, accepting that answer for what it was and went back to the movie. Zuma still looked a bit lost in thought, but Kingston’s attention was now 100% on the movie. 

 

Blake was more focused on the now sleeping toddler in his arms. He was still finding himself thrown off, sometimes it would take a good hour or hour and a half to get Apollo to fall asleep, and then other times, like tonight, he was out in under five minutes. Blake loved holding him, so he was perfectly happy with spending the next hour or so with Apollo sleeping on his chest. Every so often he would find himself gently running his hand up and down the toddler’s back, or lightly playing with his hair until he fell asleep himself.

 

Blake was woken up later by Gwen kissing him on the cheek repeatedly. “Wake up babe,” she gently whispered to pull him out of his sleep. “Time to get this one to bed, and you need to move to bed to or your neck will kill you in the morning.”

 

“Gimme a kiss first?” Blake asked with a sleepy smile that Gwen just couldn’t say no to. 

 

“Let’s go Papa.”

 

For what had to be the millionth time that day Blake grinned from ear to ear. “That is definitely my new favorite name. God I love your boys.”

 

“They love you too,” Gwen said as she helped him up off the couch as to not jostle Apollo too much. “Clearly this one loves you.”

 

They made their way upstairs to Apollo’s room to get him settled in bed. “I felt kinda bad leavin’ you out there to deal with Gavin. What did he say?”

 

“He was pissed, you saw that much, and then he told me that too. He doesn’t like it, at all, but he did say that he wouldn’t try to get Apollo to stop, so I guess that is a bit of a positive.”

 

“I can live with him bein’ pissed at me, I don’t mind that so much.”

 

Blake gently laid down the toddler in his bed and then stepped back so that Gwen could kiss him goodnight. 

 

Apollo stirred awake for a moment just long enough to whisper out, “Wove you Mama an Papa.”

  
Blake figured that the smile was never going to leave his face again. 


	5. The one where Gwen gets sick

It’s a little earlier than normal when Blake hears his phone ring with Gwen’s ringtone. Normally she will call a little after 9, once the boys have eaten breakfast when she has them, and he knows she has them this weekend because he had plans with them later in the day. 

 

He answered the phone with a smile on his face “What can I do for ya sunshine?”

 

“Um, hey Blake.” a nervous voice that was definitely not his girlfriend said back. 

 

“King? What’s going on? Is something wrong?” Blake asked once he realized that it was Kingston on the other side of the phone and not Gwen. 

 

“I think my mom is sick. Normally she is awake by now and is making breakfast, but when I went to her room she was still asleep and she doesn’t look very good. She looked like she was sweating a lot, he covers were all kicked off and stuff. I don’t really know what to do.”

 

Blake couldn’t help but smile a little at the fact that Kingston thought to call him, things were definitely serious between Blake and Gwen, but he hadn’t been in the boys’ lives for too long. After a moment he immediately sprang into action to be over there as quick as he could be. 

 

“It was smart thinkin’ of you to call King, good job. I’m gonna be over soon, do you think you can do a couple a things before I get there?”

 

“Yea okay.”

 

“Good. Are your brothers up yet?”

 

“Yea, I put Apollo in his play-pen in the living room and Zuma and me were watching TV.”

 

“Do you think you can handle making some cereal for you all? You and Zuma can do your own I know, but get some of the Cheerios in the cabinet out and give them to Apollo. If you can get him in the highchair that’s fine, or you can just get a bowl from the pantry and put them in his play-pen with him, hopefully he don’t throw them all.” he said with a chuckle. 

 

“Okay. I can do that. Is there anything else?”

 

“I know you said that your mom looked like she was sweating, but that means she has a fever, so can you go and pull the covers back over her? If she wakes up when you do that tell her to stay there because I’m on my way okay, and that you’ve got breakfast handled? I’m leaving my place now so I’ll be there in about 20 minutes alright?”

 

“Okay Blake.”

 

He could tell that Kingston was still kind of nervous about what was going on, “You're gonna be fine King, your mom will be fine too. Do you want me to stay on the phone, you can put me on speaker or somethin’ if ya want and just set the phone on the table.”

 

“You said you'll be here soon?”

 

“Sure will buddy.”

 

“Then it's okay.” Kingston said with a bit more confidence, “I can do those things.” 

 

“Alright little man. I'll see you soon.”

 

“Bye Blake.”

 

As he was talking on the phone he had gotten dressed and was out the door in just a few minutes. He was willing the traffic not to be so bad so that he could make it there in a decent amount of time. He wasn’t quite prepared to handle 3 boys and his sick girlfriend, but he was going to try his best to prove to her that this was something he could do. If he was going to have a future with them all then he needed to prove that he could do this. 

 

He was so lost in thought thinking about that, he didn't even realize that he had pulled up to the house. 

 

He made his way inside and was immediately greeted by Kingston and Zuma. 

 

“Hey boys,” he said giving them both hugs, “Did you eat?” 

 

The both nodded. 

 

“Good job. Is Apollo still in his play-pen?” 

 

“Yup,” Kingston answered. “I even fed him Cheerios like you said too!” 

 

“Good job my man.” 

 

“Mom kicked off the covers again though.”

 

“That's okay. I'm gonna go check on her and then I'll come back down and we can figure out what we want to do today. Sound good boys?”

 

Kingston and Zuma nodded and then went back to watching TV. 

 

Blake grabbed a Gatorade and a water out of the fridge before making his way upstairs. 

 

When he opened the door he realized why Kingston sounded so nervous on the phone, she didn’t look good at all. He walked over to gently lay his hand on her forehead to confirm his suspicions of a fever, but as he got close enough he figured he probably didn’t need to; Kingston had been right about her sweating. It was a good sign though, it meant her fever was breaking, but he still couldn’t stand to see her looking miserable. Even in her sleep her face was scrunched up, clearly in discomfort.  

 

“Hey darlin’” he drawled out, trying to wake her up.  

 

After a pause, when nothing happened he tried again by gently rubbing her shoulder, “Come on sunshine, you need to wake up and get some fluids in ya.”

 

“Blake?” Gwen groaned out groggily before her eyes shot open in panic. 

 

“Hey, hey, relax.”

 

“What time is it?” 

 

“It’s about 9:15.” Gwen’s eyes shot open again, but Blake interjected before she could say anything. “The boys are downstairs and’ve had breakfast. Kingston called me a little bit ago when he came in to wake you up but he saw that you were sick.” 

 

“He called you?”

 

“Yea, I’m really glad he felt he could do that, and I’m glad I’m here now. Hate to break it to ya beautiful, but you are most definitely sick. You’ve got a fever for sure. Speaking of that fever, we need to get ya changed out of those clothes, you’ve sweated through them.” Blake had already grabbed a t-shirt and sweats out of her closet, “Think you can sit up for a minute?”

 

Gwen nodded and sat up and Blake helped her change into dry clothes. 

 

“You need to drink something too. I brought you up a water and a Gatorade. Which one do ya want?”

 

“Water for now please.”

 

After she put down the water bottle her eyes went wide again. “We were supposed to go…”

 

Blake didn’t even let her finish. “Well we ain’t doing that anymore, we can go another time. It’s nothin’.” 

 

“The boys?”

 

“Well when Kingston called I had put him in charge of cereal makin’ for everyone. He said he got Apollo to eat most of his Cheerios instead a thrown’ em. I told them when I got here that I was going to come up and check on you, and the I would be back down. If you’re feeling up to it we can move ya down to the couch and have a movie day, if you need more rest and want the house quiet I’ll take em to the park for a bit, whatever you need me to do.” 

 

Gwen smiled despite still feeling awful that their plans were ruined and because she was sick, “I need you to come here for a minute.”

 

Blake grinned and got in the bed to hold her for a minute. 

 

“I think I’m pretty much bed-ridden for today. Honestly last night I wasn’t feeling too great and I was going to call Gavin to pick them up this morning, but I guess I fell asleep. I can still do that if I need to.”

 

“Nonsense. I got ‘em. You need to rest though. I’ll bring you up something to eat. What do you think you can keep down?”

 

Gwen shyly smiled, she had a comfort food when she was sick just like everyone else, but she always thought it was kind of silly. “There are some honey Teddy Grahams near the top of the pantry.” 

 

“You got it darlin’. I’ll be back in a minute.” He said with a kiss to her forehead. 

 

Once he returned downstairs he saw that the boys were exactly has he left them. He went over to them to explain what was going on. “Your momma is really sick today. I know we were all supposed to go hiking today, but we’re gonna have to wait on that. I’ve gotta go bring her somethin’ to eat, so while I’m doing that, think about what you want to do today instead. We can go to the park for a bit, we can have a movie day, we can go swimming, or we can do something else. So you two think about it while I go up there and then we can do whatever. Sound good?”

 

Both boys nodded enthusiastically, hearing the word swimming, they already decided what they wanted to do. 

 

Blake took the box of Teddy Grahams up and smiled at Gwen sleeping again. 

 

“Wake up, I brought you your Teddy Grahams.”

 

“You’re the best.”

 

“Those are tasty, I mighta had a few, your choice in snacks for sickness is good.”

 

Gwen just looked down, “Gavin used to say that it was childish, I should eat crackers like an adult.”

 

“Well ain’t that some bullshit then. I say hold on to whatever you want to keep ya feelin’ young.”

 

“You saying I’m getting old cowboy?” Gwen teased. 

 

“You ain’t ever gonna be old. You’re gonna be just a beautiful in 40 years as you are now, and I’m gonna look like I outta be dead.” 

 

“Nonsense. Are the boys behaving themselves?”

 

Blake nodded, “Yup. I told em we couldn’t go hiking today, we’d have to do it another time, but once I said we could go out back and go swimming I think they forgot all about it. I gave em a coupla choices, but if the way their faces lit up is anythin’ to go by I’d say we are going swimming.”

 

“You sure you can handle the 3 of them?”

 

“Sure am. And before you ask. I know where Apollo’s sunscreen is, the strong stuff, I know that Zuma still isn’t the best swimmer, so to keep an eye on him, especially if he looks like he’s gettin’ wore out, and I know to keep King from bein’ too rowdy if Apollo is nearby in in little floaty thing.”

 

“Sounds like you got everything under control then.”

 

“You just worry about feeling better beautiful. I got everything else under control.”

 

“I love you.”

 

“Love you too. Now eat a few of these, drink somethin’, go back to sleep, and call me if you need anything, I’ll bring my phone out there.” 

 

Blake changed into the swim trunks he kept at Gwen’s house and by the time he went back down there Kingston and Zuma had changed too. 

 

“Alright boys, give me a minute to get Apollo ready to go. Do you remember where your sunscreen is?” When they both nodded their heads he continued, “Think you can help each other out with your backs while I get Apollo?” 

 

“Yea Blake,” they answered, clearly excited about going swimming. 

 

Blake got Apollo ready to go and coated in sunscreen, if he burned Gwen would kill him, and then double checked that Kingston and Zuma applied their own sunscreen well enough. After reminding them to do their faces everyone was ready to go and went out back to the pool. 

 

They spent a few hours out there before getting dried off to come back in for lunch. Blake made Kingston and Zuma some sandwiches and then just cut up some of the lunch meat and cheese for Apollo. When they were settled down and eating he went back up to check on Gwen. 

 

Following what seemed to be the trend for the day, she was fast asleep when he got up there. The country singer rested his hand on her forehead again and was pleased to find that her fever had gone down a bit. He also noticed that the Gatorade was now half gone as well as the water bottle, so he made a mental note to bring up another water bottle before they all went back out to the pool. 

  
  


At about 5 that night Gwen finally emerged from her room. By then the boys had their fun in the pool, Blake made sure they were all showered and changed, pizza was ordered, and they were getting ready to have a movie night. 

 

Zuma was the first to see his mother; Blake was currently letting Apollo squish his face together while he made weird noises as he lay on the floor next to the toddler. “Are you feeling better?” 

 

“I am sweetie. Have you boys been good for Blake?”

 

Zuma just nodded while Kingston spoke up to answer. “Yup! I helped make breakfast, and then we had fun at the pool. Blake threw me and Zuma really high up in the air and then we would land in the deep end. He did it with ‘Pollo too, but he made sure to catch him. Then we had sandwiches for lunch and went swimming some more and now we are getting ready to eat pizza and watch movies!”

 

“Sounds like you all had a fun boys day.”

 

“We did!”

 

Zuma climbed up next to his mom on the couch and snuggled into her. “I liked today, can we do this again sometimes? Have boys time with Blake?”

 

Gwen smiled, “I’m sure he’d like that. How about you ask him?”

 

Zuma ran over to Blake and did just that. She watched as Blake just nodded enthusiastically and returned the hug that Zuma offered. Then Blake scooped up Apollo and sat down on the couch next to her. “How are you feelin’?”

 

“Much better, it must have just been a little 24 hour bug or something. Thank you for being the best today. They boys had a really good boys day with you.” 

 

“No need to thank me darlin. I love them, and I love spending time with them. I’m sorry you weren’t feelin’ well enough to have all that fun with us.” he said with a smile. 

 

“Still though, you probably didn’t have babysitting 3 boys and your sick girlfriend on the agenda for today.”

 

Blake just put his arm around her and pulled her closer, “I never think of spending time with those boys as babysitting. It ain’t like it’s a job. I’m here on the good and bad days for y’all. I love every minute I’m with y’all.” 

  
Gwen let out a content sigh, gave Blake a quick kiss, and then smiled as Apollo squeezed his way around so that he was cuddled into both of them. Sure this wasn’t exactly the day Blake imagined when he woke up that morning, but looking at the toddler halfway in his lap, his girl resting on his shoulder and the two boys on the floor in front of him, he wouldn’t change it for anything. 


	6. The one where they go see Star Wars

Blake smiled as the two older boys came running out of the house. As usual they were wearing whatever they wanted, and they were having an imaginary lightsaber battle. One of the things he loved about Gwen was that she always let the boys express themselves however they wanted. They got to wear the clothes they wanted, whether they matched or not, it didn’t matter if it was a Halloween costume or a tutu over their basketball shorts. She let them dye their hair if they wanted to, they could play with whatever toys they wanted, and Blake realized that because they were always encouraged to express themselves however they wanted, they were some of the happiest kids he’d ever met.

 

_ He had remembered back in season 7, a few days before the boys were coming to set for the first time, how Gwen pulled him aside and told him about how she encourages them to express themselves and at that time Kingston was into painting his nails so be cool about it. Blake was a little offended at first, he would never, ever, poke fun at a boy that had his nails painted, hell he would never make fun of anything a kid did, but then he realized she probably told him because he probably did get made fun of a little bit for something that was normally seen as ‘girly.’ He made a mental note to keep that in mind when he met them.  _

 

_ After a few days passed, the boys showed up to set with their parents eager to explore the studio. Zuma had seen some guitars in the corner and immediately ran over to look at them, Kingston was talking about going to look at the stage, he wanted to know how the lights worked, and Apollo was happily giggling away on Gwen’s hip. Gavin had followed Zuma after a moment, just to make sure he didn’t get into trouble so Blake walked over to Gwen and the other two boys.  _

 

_ “Kingston, this is Blake.” _

 

_ Blake smiled and stuck out his hand to the young boy. When Kingston extended his hand out he shook the taller man’s hand with a bit of a grip that Blake wasn’t really expecting. “Wow, you got a good grip dude. I was hearin’ you said you wanted to see the stage lights. I could show you em if that’s alright with your Momma.” _

 

_ Gwen looked at the country singer a bit surprised before she nodded and watched the two of them walk through the stage doors.  _

 

_ “Blake loves kids.” Adam said as he walked over and made a face to make Apollo giggle.  _

 

_ “He does?” _

 

_ “Yea, he’s still just waiting for Miranda to get on board with the idea.” _

 

_ “Hmm.”  _

 

_ Blake had taken Kingston up to the light booth and the guy that worked up there was showing him some of the stuff worked, he even let Kingston mess with some of the stuff. “Ya know, that’s a really cool blue color your nails are.” _

 

_ Kingston smiled up shyly, “Thanks.” _

 

_ “Did you do ‘em yourself?” _

 

_ Kingston nodded, seeming to gain a little a little confidence. “I did some of them, Mom helped with some too. I did these ones,” he said as he pointed to some of the fingers on his left hand and his thumb on his right hand, “and then mom did the other ones.” _

 

_ “Wow, man you’re good at that! I can hardly see a difference!” _

 

_ “Thanks!” he replied smiling with pride, “Sometimes the other boys make fun of me though.” _

 

_ “Well you ain’t gotta listen to them. All that matters is that you like ‘em. Who cares what them other people think.” _

 

_ “You talk weird.” _

 

_ Blake just laughed out loud. “Yea, I do. Sometimes I get teased for talkin’ weird.” _

 

_ Kingston smiled up at him, “Well you ain’t gotta listen to them.” he said trying to do a country accent. _

 

_ Blake laughed and put his arm around the boy as they walked back to find Gwen. “You’re darn right buddy.”  _

 

Blake smiled at the memory as he took in the outfits they were wearing now. Kingston had on a red jersey, orange shorts, multi-colored socks, and neon pink and yellow shoes. Zuma was wearing his typical basketball shorts and t-shirt, but he had on camo socks, a camo long sleeve shirt, and his shoes looked to be at least two sizes too big. 

 

Suddenly the two boys were crashing into Blake, still making lightsaber noises. 

 

“Hi Blake!” Kingston had yelled as he ran off again before the country singer could even say hi back to him.

 

“Hey Blake.” Zuma said, a little out of breath, as he stayed leaning against Blake. 

 

“Hey buddy. You excited for the movie?”

 

“Yup! King and I watched all the other star wars movies last week and the week before. Apollo sorta watched too. I think he just liked the lightsabers though.”

 

“Yea he’s probably too little to understand what’s goin’ on.”

 

Zuma just nodded.

 

Blake bent down and let Zuma climb on his back as they walked towards the house, “Let’s go see what’s taking your Momma and Apollo so long.”

 

When they got inside Zuma squirmed down and ran off to find Kingston again. Blake walked over with smile to Gwen, “Hey Sunshine.”

 

Gwen smiled and leaned up for a kiss. “Hey, you sure you want to endure a movie with us, the boys can sometimes be a bit much.”

 

“Course I do! Here comin’ up we are gonna be apart a bit more, so I’m takin’ all the time I can get right now. Speaking of the boys where’s the giggly one at?”

 

Blake was always making Apollo laugh, so the nickname, or some variation of giggle, seemed to stick. 

 

Before Gwen could respond they heard the toddler’s giggle from across the room, and after a few seconds he wobbled into the room in full camo and cowboy boots.

 

“Now this is my man!” Blake said as he picked up Apollo and made him laugh more. “Looking good buddy!”

 

Apollo just threw his arms around the country singer “Bwake!” 

 

Anytime the youngest said his name, Blake broke out into a full dimple smile. 

 

“Say cheese.” Gwen said to get their attention for a picture.

 

Blake smiled and gently tickled Apollo to get him to laugh for the picture.

 

“You guys are so cute.”

 

“He gets his good looks from his Momma.” Blake said with a wink causing Gwen to slightly blush.

 

“Come on cowboy, let’s go find the other two so we can head out.”

 

Once they were all in the car they headed to the movie theater. Most of the car ride consisted of Kingston and Zuma talking about how excited they were to see Star Wars. Kingston had asked for a lightsaber for his birthday, which meant Zuma wanted on too, so Blake made a mental note to see what he could find at the store for them next time he went out. 

 

Of course when they got to the theater and Gwen was buying tickets while Blake was in charge of snacks, they saw the paparazzi. Luckily the snack bar was around the corner where Blake was with the boys and the nanny, so they didn’t really get a good shot of him. Gwen thought they might get out of it, but then Blake walked over to her, so she knew they would be waiting after the movie got over. 

 

“We’ve got company.” Gwen said with a sigh. 

 

“Fuck ‘em. Let them get a damn picture of us, who knows if they’ve already got some, we are gonna go in that theater and just hang out for 3 hours with the boys and not worry about a damn thing. We’ll worry about ‘em when we get out.”

 

Gwen smiled up at him, surely sending the paparazzi into a frenzy, but she couldn’t help it, when Blake talked about not caring about that, even though he was the one that wasn’t as used to being followed as she was. 

 

“Sounds like a great plan.” 

 

Once they got into the theater Apollo started squirming around in his seat until he got down and went over to Blake. 

 

“Hey buddy! You want to sit with me for the movie?”

 

Apollo happily just got comfortable in Blake’s lap and then turned his attention back to the big screen. 

 

Their nanny was on the the end of the row, then Kingston and Zuma were happily chatting about the movie and what they thought was going to happen, then Gwen was sat next to Apollo’s now vacant seat. She reached over and rested her hand on Blake’s. “You don’t have to hold him the whole movie.”

 

“Nonsense. My buddy here needs a little boost to see the screen.” Blake said. 

 

Gwen couldn’t help but think about how much of a natural father Blake was. He hadn’t been a constant in the boys’ life until the last month or so, but now that he was she could clearly see that he loved every minute around the boys. She just smiled and intertwined their fingers as the movie started up. 

  
  


Once the movie ended, Kingston and Zuma seemed to have even more energy than before and were once again making lightsaber noises as they went back to the car. Gwen however let out a yawn, so before they got out into the open, where no doubt the paparazzi were, Blake put his arm around Gwen and pulled her close. “You look more wore out than this one.” the country singer said as he nodded his head at Apollo who was resting against Blake looking fairly sleepy.

 

“I think I am. Those boys can be a handful. Maybe they will crash soon, they’ve been pretty hyper and energetic all day.”

 

“Why don’t you let me drive home...er back to your place,” he finished with a blush on his face. 

 

“Yea okay, you can drive home.” Gwen replied smiling back at him. 

 

Blake looked around to make sure the other boys or any camera’s couldn’t see and snuck in a quick kiss before handing Apollo off the nanny and then waiting a few minutes to go back to the car in hopes of throwing off the paparazzi. Of course, as he got in the driver’s seat he noticed that the cameras were still there. 

 

They made their way home, and about halfway there Zuma spoke up. “Mom? How come the camera people follow us around more when Blake is with us?”

 

Gwen shot a panicked look over to Blake. In return, he just looked back equally confused, “This is all you.”

 

“Um...well…” Gwen said trying to buy a little bit of time, “I think it’s because Blake isn’t normally with us, and what have I told you about the camera people?”

 

“That they are super noisy and care too much about dumb things.”

 

Blake laughed, “Very true. That’s a good thing to remember Z-man.”

 

“So they care that Blake is with us because since you and dad aren’t together anymore they think you and Blake are, well they are trying to see that you are Blake are.”

 

Both Gwen and Blake’s jaws dropped. 

 

“Umm.”

 

Kingston rolled his eyes, “Mom we know you’re dating Blake. You’re not very good at pretending you’re not.”

 

“Well,” Blake said directing his voice at Gwen, “looks like you don’t have to worry about how you’re gonna tell them anymore.”

 

How to tell the boys that her and Blake were more than friends was something she thought about a lot, and recently it was weighing heavily on her mind. Gwen took Blake’s hand across the consol. “I guess so.” She then turned to look back at Kingston and Zuma. “How do you guys feel about that?”

 

“It’s cool. We like Blake a lot.” 

 

“Yea,” Zuma said, “he’s fun.”

 

Blake just was smiling from ear to ear as he continued to drive.

 

Gwen just gave his hand a light squeeze, “Yea he’s kinda cool huh?” 

 

“I’m ‘kinda cool’ just kinda?! Man! Thought I was more than just kinda cool.”

 

Kingston and Zuma just laughed. 

 

“Man are you boys taking her side?! I’m only kinda cool?!”

 

This just caused the boys to laughed harder as they pulled up to the house. Blake got out and opened the car door that Kingston was closest to and threw the boy over his shoulder so that he was hanging upside down. “Blake! Put me down!” Kingston said while laughing. 

 

Gwen watched with Zuma as the two ran around the driveway. 

 

“Mom, I really like Blake.”

  
Gwen smiled and ran her hand through Zuma’s hair, “Me too buddy.”


	7. The one where they get a puppy

Gwen had given the boys a picture of their new puppy for Christmas. The small dog wasn’t quite ready to come home with them yet, but she wanted the boys to know that they were in fact getting a dog and soon. They had wanted one for a while, and they did end up spending a little more time with her than with their father, so she decided that the dog would stay with her at the house primarily.

When she first told they boys they would be getting a dog, she told Kingston and Zuma to think of a few potential names and write them down so that when the dog did arrive they would have a name for him. 

Kingston and Zuma both had more than a few names for when the time came, they had each come up with about 15 names, and of course none of them were the same name. Gwen had figured that they would at least have one name in common and then boom, they would have a name for their new dog, but of course that was not the case with a nine year old and a seven year old. 

Gwen was trying to teach them a lesson more about compromise, they had recently starting butting heads a little bit more, she figured it had something to do with their age and just growing up in general, so the dog was still nameless because the two boys just couldn’t, and wouldn’t agree on anything; they each thought that their names were better than the others. 

When it was finally time to get the dog, Gwen asked if Blake would come over to watch the boys while she went to get him. She had been showing Blake more and more just how much he really meant to all of them, and one of the ways she did that was by letting him watch the boys by himself. He hadn't been doing it too often, it wasn’t for long of periods of time just a couple hours at most, and the first time she did it he looked a little terrified, but it was a lot better now. 

Gwen smiled when she heard his knock at the door, she thought about how maybe it was time to give him his own key.

“Hey darlin’.” Blake said as he wrapped his arms around her. “Are my favorite boys still drivin’ you up a wall by not agreeing on a name for this new pup?”

Gwen smiled and melted into his embrace, “Yes they are. Maybe you can help them agree on one while I’m gone. It shouldn’t be too long. Depending on what traffic is like it will probably be about two hours or so.”

“Not a problem. I’ve got em. Maybe I’ll figure out some sort of game for them to pick a name.”

Gwen laughed, “Good luck with that. It’s been about a month since they’ve started thinking of names and I can’t get them to compromise.”

They walked into the living room where Kingston and Zuma were playing a videogame and Apollo was happily playing with toys on the floor. “Alright boys, Blake is in charge, you know the rules, and you better have a name for this dog by the time I get back alright?”

The boys just nodded and continued playing their game.

“I’m serious boys, if you don’t agree on a name by the time I get back I’m going to name him.”

That got the boys’ attention, “Okay we will pick one,” Kingston said. 

“Good. Love you boys, I’ll be back in a couple hours.”

“Love you too,” they echoed as they went back to their racing game.

Blake walked her over to the door. “Don’t worry darlin’ they’ll have a name when you come back.”

“I hope so.” she replied as she gave him a quick kiss. “Oh, don’t let the boys play video games the whole time I’m gone. Only give them about 20 more minutes. They’ve been playing that game a lot lately and I don’t want them to be those kids that sit inside all day playing those. I know you’re still getting used to being more strict on them, but just offer to go play catch or something.”

“You got it. See you in a little bit.”

With one last kiss Blake shut the door behind her and then went back to the living room.

“Alright boys, you ain’t gonna be playing video games all day like a couple a bums, we are gonna go play catch in a little bit okay?”

“Okay Blake!” Kingston said enthusiastically. The oldest love sports, he had played baseball, soccer, football, basketball and even tried tennis for a little bit. 

Zuma on the other hand enjoyed football, but that was about it, so sometimes when they went to play catch he wasn’t really into it. Blake had picked up on that though, so he offered Zuma an alternative. “Z-man, if you don’t wanna play catch you can bring out your notebook and draw or write.”

Zuma smiled and nodded in return. 

“Now we gotta figure out what to do with the giggle box over here.” Blake picked up a mini foam basketball and lightly bopped it off Apollo’s head to throw him into a fit of giggles, living up to the nickname the country singer had for him. “Well, looks like catch is outta the game. Maybe we’ll bring that bouncy seat thing out and he can hang in that.”

“Yea that’s probably a good idea. Mom says he’s starting to get curious about stuff so he runs away a lot.” Kingston said. 

“Probably a smart move then bringin’ that seat out, we don’t him runnin’ away on us. You boys should bring out your lists of names too. Maybe we can pick one or at least narrow it down to a couple of choices.”

 

Two hours had passed, Kingston was out of breath from running around with Blake, Blake was super out of breath from chasing Kingston (he made a mental note to actually try and get a little bit more in shape), Zuma had drawn 3 pictures, all of which he wouldn’t let anyone see, and Apollo had a blast wobbling around with Blake and Kingston when they took him out of his seat. It was clear that everyone was happy and tired, but they still hadn’t picked a name. Blake wasn’t quite sure how he was going to tell Gwen that he failed that particular instruction. 

Just as he was trying to figure out what to say, she walked in with the small brown puppy. Kingston and Zuma found more energy and ran over to the still nameless pup, and Blake followed shortly after with Apollo in his arms. 

“Well, did you guys agree on a name?” Gwen asked with a bit of a smirk already guessing that they hadn’t.

Apollo squirmed down to give the dog a hug before shouting “CAMO!” 

Kingston and Zuma both looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders while Gwen just laughed a bit a Blake being slackjawed. 

“What do you think boys? Want to go with Apollo’s suggestion?”

“YEA!” They both said clearly happy with the name their little brother came up with as they took their new dog outside to play with. 

“I didn’t even know Apollo knew that word.” Gwen said. “How fitting though. Looks like he is your little cowboy after all.”

Blake just laughed, “well I’m pretty sure I didn’t teach him that so I ain’t sure where he picked that up, but I love it.”

He put his arm around Gwen and looked out in the backyard to watch the boys when he was hit with how this was his future. He pictured watching those boys grow up by Gwen’s side, and instead of slightly scaring him, it just brought a smile to his face.


	8. The one with the hike and the talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks evlas27 for the prompt and for being helpful with the plot line! I hope you like it :)

Gwen was nervous. The only other times when she had felt this nervous about something was when she first started performing live, when she had to sit Kingston and Zuma down to explain to them that her and Gavin were separating, and when Blake had shyly asked her on a date back in September. 

 

“Darlin, it will be okay. They are smart boys, I’m sure they won’t be too shocked. I mean I kinda been around quite a bit, they musta picked up on something by now.”

 

“I know, and I know it will be okay, the boys love having you around I’m not as nervous about telling them as I am about what might happen after. They might ask questions that we might not know how to answer, maybe they liked having you over as their buddy, but now that your mom’s boyfriend it might be weird, and I don’t even want to start thinking about what will happen if they start talking to Gavin about you.”

 

Blake took her hand and gave it a kiss, “No sense in worryin’ about things that ain’t happened yet. I’m sure it will all be okay. If any of the things you’re worryin’ about happen, then we’ll deal with them when they come up.”

 

Gwen let out a breath, “You’re right, I know you are, but I’m still nervous about it.”

 

“Well, let’s just go on our hike, you put those nerves outta your mind for a coupla hours and we can come back to it when we are done. Sound good?”

 

Gwen smiled and kissed his cheek, “Sounds great.” 

 

They picked up the boys from Gavin’s and got on their way to the trail they would spend the day on. Kingston was excited to get to the top and look over the city, Zuma was interested in learning about the nature along the trail, and Apollo was just happy as always to be outside. 

 

Blake was excellent with all three of the boys. He made up stories about mountain lions to spook Kingston, he listened intently when Zuma would tell him about a flower or plant they saw on the trail, and he carried Apollo on his shoulders when the youngest got tired of walking. It was a really great day and by they time they all got back to the house and showered the boys were worn out. 

 

“You ready for this?” Blake asked

 

Gwen nodded and stood on her toes so she could give him a kiss. “Yea let’s do it.”

 

When they got to the living room Kingston and Zuma already had the movie pulled up and Apollo was playing with some of his toys on the floor. 

 

Gwen took a seat on the couch between her two oldest and Blake sat down on the floor, back leaning against the couch, and got Apollo’s attention and started playing with him as he listened to Gwen speak.

 

“Did you boys have fun today?”

 

“Yea!” Kingston said enthusiastically, “It was so fun, can we go hiking more?!”

 

“Yea we can try to go more often. Zuma did you have fun?”

 

Her middle child nodded, “Yea, it was really cool.”

 

“Good. I’m glad you guys had fun. Was it okay that Blake came with us?”

 

Once again Kingston answered enthusiastically, “Yea he is really fun.”

 

“He liked to listen to me talk about the plants and flowers I saw, that was nice of him.” Zuma said. 

 

With the way Zuma worded that answer, Blake had a feeling that his dad didn’t really care much when Zuma talked about that stuff around him, so Blake felt the need to voice his thoughts, “Z-man, you taught me a bunch of cool stuff today. I didn’t know that you were so smart about plants! You’ll have to teach me more sometime.” 

 

Gwen smiled gratefully over at Blake before continuing. “Do you think it would be okay if Blake was around a little bit more?”

 

“Mom,” Kingston interrupted, “Is Blake your boyfriend?”

 

Gwen started stuttering, a bit blindsided by her son, so Blake took that opportunity to get up and go sit next to them. “Can I tell you boys a secret?”

 

When they both nodded Blake leaned in closer, pretending that Gwen wouldn’t be able to hear what he was going to say even though she was right in the middle of them. “I really like your momma a whole lot, and I really like you boys too. Do you think it’d be okay if I was her boyfriend?”

 

“Is this why you and dad broke up?” Zuma asked his mom. Before she could answer though Kingston cut in “No remember dad said they broke up cuz he made some mistakes that married people shouldn’t make.”

 

“Wait does that mean Blake is going to be our step dad?” Kingston asked.

 

“Is he gonna come live with us?” Zuma followed up before the previous question could be answered. 

 

“Slow down boys one thing at a time.” Gwen said. 

 

“Your father and I broke up, because he did makes some mistakes, but that’s okay, people make mistakes sometimes. Blake isn’t going to be step-dad, at least for a while” Gwen said with a shy smile over to him. 

 

Blake winked back and spoke up. “If your momma and I were to get married down the road, you could call me your step dad if you wanted to, if you didn’t though you can still just call me Blake.”

 

“So is he gonna live with us?” Zuma asked again. 

 

“Not right now. He might later, but he still has his own house that he lives at.”

 

“Why doesn’t he sell his house and just move in now?” Kingston asked, “I mean he’s here all the time anyway, plus he’s already got a bunch of stuff here.”

 

Gwen looked over at Blake, they had been dating for about 6 months now, and while that would seem quick to move it, the more Gwen thought about it the more she thought it was a natural next step that probably would come soon anyway, and if they way Blake’s eye’s had a bit of a hopeful sparkle to them she figured why not, “Well, what would you think if Blake did move in? Would that be okay?” 

 

“YEA! We can play football, and go on more hikes and go swimming, and play video games and stuff.” Kingston said. 

 

Zuma was just sitting quietly though, so Blake got his attention while Gwen was still talking to Kingston, “What are you thinking Z-man? It’s okay if you don’t like that idea, I know it’s a lot to think about.”

 

Zuma shrugged. “I don’t know, what if you don’t like living with us and leave?”

 

Blake pulled the boy onto his lap to face him. “I promise you that I won’t leave ya. Ever. I’m very hard to get rid of, just ask Adam, he’s been trying to get rid of me for years.” Blake joked. He knew that Zuma really enjoyed his banter with Adam. 

 

Zuma shyly held up his pinky, “You pinky swear?”

 

Blake locked his little finger around Zuma’s “I pinky swear buddy. The only way I’d leave is if you wanted me to.”

 

That seemed to seal the deal for Zuma, he threw his arms around the country singers neck to give him a hug. 

 

Gwen, at some point, must have stopped needing to answer Kingston’s questions because he was now on the floor with Apollo and Gwen was watching with glossy eyes. 

 

“So you think you’d be okay with me moving in a little later?” Blake asked

 

This time Zuma nodded enthusiastically before pulling his mom closer so that he was snuggled between the two of them. 

 

Blake just smiled, dimples on full display, over at Gwen before turning his attention to the movie that Kingston started. 

  
Later that night Gwen was scrolling through social media when she saw it. She didn’t even notice Blake had taken a picture of them all, but at some point during the movie he must have because there was now a picture with the heart emoji up on twitter of all of them squished together on the couch looking like the happy family she hoped they would be (officially) one day.


	9. The one where Gwen writes a new song

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been awhile friends. I started this a couple days after MMLY came out but then had some hell-ish weeks at school with all the midterms and papers and such so I had ZERO time for writing. I know it's pretty short, but I should have another one up in the next couple days that is a bit longer :)

Gwen shyly walked into Blake’s trailer after filming. It had started to become habit for one of them to go to the others trailer after filming and sometimes then go get food after, or Gwen would simply just drive Blake home because she lived near him and she knew he didn’t drive anyway. The extra time spent with the country singer was not going unnoticed by her fellow coaches either. Adam had started teasing them with playful threats to back off his man, and Pharrell just looked at her with that damn look in his eye that said he knew something was up.

 

What their fellow coaches didn’t know was that things had progressed a bit more than just the fun flirtation they put on around the others; two weeks ago they had their first official date, and last week they had shared a kiss that was full of promises for the future.

 

“Well ain’t you a sight for sore eyes. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look nervous. What’s going on?”

 

“I…uh…wrote another song last week. I was wondering if you wanted to listen to it.”

 

“After getting a sneak peak at your first single and absolutely lovin’ it, I sure as hell ain’t passin’ up an opportunity to listen to what’s probably gonna be another smash hit. “

 

Gwen smiled, she played Used to Love You to him even before she had Ellen listen to it and he told her it was going to be big. She was going to be releasing that one soon, and she hoped he was right. Playing Make Me Like You was going to be different though. She wouldn’t have to hold back tears as she played it, instead she would be nervously be awaiting his reaction when he realized the song was about him. This was going to change their relationship for sure. They had just been having a few dates and sharing a few kisses, a serious talk about what it all meant hadn’t happened yet, and Gwen knew that after playing this song that talk would probably happen.

 

Gwen took a deep breath and hit play. It was a really rough demo recording, but she knew that Blake would be paying attention to the lyrics, not so much the music.

 

_I was fine before I met you_

_I was broken but fine_

_I was lost and uncertain_

_But my heart was still mine_

_I was free before I met you_

_I was broken but free_

_All alone in a clear view_

_But now you are all I see_

As the first verse ran into the pre-chorus Blake’s head snapped up and his eyes went wide with wonder. It was almost like he was in disbelief that she actually wrote a song about him, but he didn’t say anything. Gwen hoped that they surprise on his face was a good thing, but since he didn’t interrupt the song she wouldn’t know until it was over.

 

Gwen just sat there nervously for the next 3 and a half minutes as the song played out. She figured it was a good sign that Blake hadn’t been freaked out by this very clear emotional song about him and had taken off running, but now that the song was over and he still hadn’t said anything she was getting worried.

 

Gwen was just about to speak up when Blake stood up and walked over to where she had been pacing and gently put his hands on her waist.

 

“You better be careful writin’ a song like that darlin’.” Blake said with a shy smile.

 

“Why’s that?” Gwen asked curiously.

 

The country singer leaned in closer, so that their lips were just a fraction of an inch apart, “’Cause you’re gonna go and make me fall in love with you,” he said as he closed the gap and brought their lips together.

 

When they separated Gwen looked down with a shy smile. She was happy that Blake liked the song, but even happier at what he had said. “Yea?”

 

Blake gently tilted her chin up so that he was looking into her eyes. “Darlin’, I know it seems like we’re movin’ real fast here, but yea, I’m finding new things everyday that I’m with you that I’m fallin’ in love with. Pretty soon I’m gonna be a goner,” he finished with a dimpled smile.

 

Gwen stood on her tiptoes and gave Blake another kiss. “With those dimples of yours and your heart,” she said as she moved her hand from his cheek to his chest, “I don’t think I’ll be too far behind you.”


End file.
